Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.
Ok, this chapter takes place at the same time as the lasy one. Just so you all know. R&R!
Chapter 12: Birth of a Monster
Raven wearily opened her eyes. A familiar pounding in her head made her groan. She looked around at her surroundings and quickly remembered what was going on. She and Beast Boy had been stolen. They were going to be combined into a dangerous monster. The last thing she remembered was the Combiner revealing his plan, then he closed in on the cage and injected them with something. Sedative. Probably the same sedative he had used to get them here in the first place.
She wasn't in the cage anymore. She was lying on a hard, flat surface and wires were attached to various parts of her body. She was strapped down and couldn't move anything more than her head. Looking over to her right, she saw Beast Boy lying on the table next to her. He was blinking groggily.
She made eye contact with Beast Boy and they exchanged grim looks.
"How are you feeling?" Beast Boy whispered.
"Horrible," Raven replied before looking up at the ceiling. They sat in silence for a while before Raven decided to try using her powers.
She closed her eyes and focused all her attention on her binding straps. She could feel her mind straining past her exhaustion. After a couple minutes she felt her powers tugging at the confining straps.
Beast Boy watched with bated breath as dark energy surrounded her bonds.
The energy pulled at the straps and Raven's face contorted with concentration, but she only had enough energy to loosen the bindings. They weren't, however, loose enough to escape.
Raven gave an exasperated sigh and let her tense muscles relax a bit. Beast Boy let out his breath and gave Raven an understanding look when she looked over at him.
Obviously this villain had done his homework.
Speak of the Devil…
"Ah, so you're awake," the Combiner walked over to them. "I must say, I was beginning to worry that you wouldn't wake up for a couple hours."
Neither replied. Instead they both shot him dark glares.
"I'm getting a bit impatient to start my little project. It was a risk not giving you as much sedative, you might have waken up while I was still moving you onto the tables," he told them casually.
He walked over to the machine they were hooked up to and pressed a sequence of buttons. The machine stirred to life and a low humming filled the silent warehouse.
Walking back to Raven and Beast Boy, he pulled out yet another needle, this one empty.
Poking it into Beast Boy's arm, he extracted a bit of blood. Stepping over to Raven he used the same needle to remove some of her blood. The crimson liquids mixed together in the base of the needle.
The Combiner back to the machine and let the blood drip into a vial in the contraption. He pressed a few more buttons and stepped back to watch.
Suddenly Raven felt a jolt of pain wash through her body. Her back arched up against her bonds in pain. An indescribable pain coursed through her body. She tried to bite back a bloodcurdling scream but it escaped her lips anyway.
Next to her Beast Boy was also enduring the unimaginable pain. They were both super heroes. They went through pain on an almost daily basis, and yet this pain was worse than any other pain he had ever experienced, Beast Boy thought. A scream tore from his throat, and slowly turned into a howl.
Then for the third time that day, everything went black.
The Combiner watched in mild amusement as they reacted to the effects of merging. When he saw that they had passed out he turned and walked up the stairs that lead to his house.
At the top of the stairs he closed the door and turned to survey the room. It was empty. The Combiner scowled. Where was that girl? He hadn't given her permission to leave the house. He strode across the small room and opened her door. Her room was empty as well. He walked through the magazines and knocked on the door of the adjoining bathroom. No reply.
Stomping out of the room he walked over to the small fridge in the corner of the 'kitchen'. There was a sticky note on the door,
Frank,
Went out for more magazines, be back in a while.
-Alice
The Combiner's lips curled up in disgust as soon as he read his name. He had always hated his name. So plain, unoriginal, non-intimidating. Once he was in control of the city he would make sure that no one in a one thousand-mile radius had the boring first name of Frank. Others may scoff at his loathing of the name, but he knew that names were important. Names like Frank and Bill didn't demand respect. Names like Slade and Trigon did. That's why the Frightful Combiner had spent over two months just coming up with his name. He was quite proud of it.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts from such pointless thoughts, he walked over to the cheap couch in the corner and turned the television on.
He watched game shows for the good part of an hour before deciding to go back down to his lab. His project would be done soon.
He was halfway down the stairs when he heard a voice calling onto the house.
"Frank? You up here?"
He didn't reply, instead he stopped to listen. He thought he heard more than one voice.
There was no more talking, but listening carefully he could make out more than one set of feet slowly making their way towards the door.
Alice didn't have any friends. Even if she did, she knew that no one was allowed down here, and yet the footsteps were obviously heading to the door. Immediately he knew what was going on. Alice had snuck out and found the Titans. She knew.
He continued on his down the stairs and rushed over to another cage in the warehouse. Fluffy. They had taken his sweet Fluffy, but he had taken Fluffy back while they were too busy with the case. In fact, Fluffy had proven useful more than once, as it had been Fluffy who had helped the Combiner escape when he was trapped at the science lab.
Unlatching the cage door, he let Fluffy out of the metal cage. He scratched under the creature's chin and led Fluffy out of site of the door.
Almost instantly a group of teenagers walked into the underground warehouse. Fluffy tensed beside him, knowing that the Teen Titans were the enemy. The Combiner held Fluffy back until the teens ran towards their friends. Then he let Fluffy loose.
The large hellcat jumped in front of the super teens, stopping them in their tracks.
"Fluffy!" the Tameranian gasped.
"I thought we captured Fluffy?" their leader questioned.
"Fluffy escaped," replied the Combiner, stepping forward so they could see him. He watched as the Titans got ready for battle and Alice glared at him darkly.
"Alice, don't make that face or it will get stuck like that," he chided, nearly eighteen years of parenting coming back to him naturally.
"What are you playing at, Carson?" interrupted Robin. The Combiner's face scrunched up. He despised his surname just as much as his first.
"My name is not Carson. I'm the Frightful Combiner!" he replied darkly. He was really starting to dislike the Titans' leader.
"Frankly, I don't care," replied Robin, obviously catching onto Frank's name-issues. "We're here and we're going to stop you and save our friends."
The Combiner was amused. How ignorant they were. They were too late to stop the merge. He laughed.
"You're too late," he informed the teens. "Any minute now they'll be turning into my monster, and then I'll be unstoppable!"
As if to confirm this, Raven and Beast Boy simultaneously screamed. Everyone turned to look at them.
The straps on the table automatically let them go as their bodies lifted from the table. Unwillingly, they shuffled towards each other. They didn't stop when their chests pushed against each other and the others watched in surprise as the two seemed to melt together.
In between the two tabled stood one strange body. It was somewhere between green and gray. The green and purple hair was as long as Raven's usually was, but it was strangely messy. The ears were slightly pointy, and a chakra sat in the middle of the forehead. The strange being turned to look at the group of people and the remaining Teen Titans gasped in shock as they saw a face that was a strange mix of their two friends.
For a brief moment the weirdly familiar face looked at them in confusion before screaming in pain once more. Falling to its knees, the being held it's head and the scream turned into a primal howl. The being's hunched back started to rise and fall heavily, all the while growing in size. Dark fur grew through all the pores of the being's skin. The fur was almost black, but in the light no one could tell whether it was a dark green or almost black purple.
The hands that were clutching its head also grew in size, as lethally sharp claws began to protrude from the tips of the fingers.
The mouth and nose began growing into a snarling muzzle lined with razor-like fangs. The paws began to glow with a familiar, dark energy.
The two eyes turned red and split into four.
The being stood up and the Titans' eyes widened as they saw that the being was no longer a combination of their friends. It was now a terrifying monster, made from their combined personal demons.
Lightning flashed from a small window near the roof, as if to add to the frightening scene.
The Frightful Combiner just laughed maniacally at the birth of his monster.
Ok, so there it was. Review and tell me what you think of it.